11.4

Reflecting

Yesterday I just learnt that I was rejected by the English Open Door Programme (Chile Volunteer). Even though this is not the end of the world, I still feel quite sad as this programme could really help me gain some experience in teaching communicative skills. They  allow volunteers to teach 25-30 students each time with communicative activities, which fits perfectly in my specialty. This failure led to contemplate why I am not chosen. I believe one of the reasons is that I am not experienced enough and also I didn't perform well enough in the interview. It makes sense. As I was talking with Laurie today, she told me that the job hunting starts in April, but I should come back earlier to have as many interviews as I can to gain experience. I should never be disheartened. This is just the beginning and I am still learning. 

My conversation with Lemon and Laurie also shed light on other possibilites. I can study PGCE and it shouldnt be too hard as it doesnt have thesis and that working in Macau is also possible.

Path to become a Teaching Assitant

I am not saying I will become a TA, but I am very glad that I can actually learn and do something rather than being a Volunteer-in-waiting. Mrs TB asked for my help with children in need. It turns out that one of the TAs left before half term and the school has decided move all the TAs down a year to make up for the vacancies, which resulted in the lack of TA in Yr 5. (The lower level the children are, the more TAs they have. So Yr 5 only had one.) To adapt myself to taking up the job of TA, I was taught how to practice with Dyslexic children. Different levels of children require various teaching methods. I obersved Mr TB to learn. They all have a special envelop)

The first students were L & E from Mr. C's class.  L is the one with the highest level of dyslexia. By that I mean the level that I thought all dyslexia is like: having difficulties reading and writing. So L has 5 words from their professional dyslexia instructor (DI). He was asked to read the word, spell the word orally and draw the shape of the box (while he was drawing, he should keep spelling) and write it down on the given sheet. Remember, he should read and spell when he writes each one. E was very incredibly good at reading, that was when I learnt that dyslexia can be varied. E read a chapter to me and explained what had happen. During that, I asked question guiding him to cast light on the text and to make sure they understand. I wrote on his reading diary what he has read and words that he didn't know. He would go through them at home with his parents. Before his reading time, he carried out the "look, cover, write, check". What it means is that he got a word (from DI), he briefly looked at it, covered it, read and spell orally 5 times prior to writing the spealling down. After that, he checked his spelling.

While they were doing the spealling, T, Mi and Kri were reading their book. The point is that they have to be heard, and asked because they were having some problems with reading. J, on the other hand, is very similar with E. He does the "Look, cover, write and check". The difference is that E doesn't need to read out the words, which indicates he is of higher level. T, from 5/6, could be of the same siuationas as L or slightly better than L because he does the box as well. However, when he is revising, he doesnt do the box unless when he struggles to spell orally (for 3 times), he does the box.

Two kids (Lou and B from 5/6) did the dictation to evaluate their level. What they should be doing next time is to do dictation of the ten words that are mistaken from the day before and together with the new mistaken words, choose some mistaken words from the last dictation and write on a small yellow paper to let them print out.

BTW I have noticed that Mr. C allowed Ss to put their "Water filter" in the classroom and Sasa threw them away. I remembered the children being heartbroken when they saw Sasa put the filters in the rubbish bin. From my perspective, teachers should also care for the feeling of young children. They can be influenced while you are not paying attention. They learnt from you. They throw away things that they regard as trivial but might matter to others.